It’s here and I have finally got round to seeing the Scott Pilgrim teaser trailer, and all I can say is….wow I think my brain just exploded from sensual overload. Edger Wright finally makes another film and his first without the support of the Spaced cast, will it be as quirky and offbeat as his past endeavours. From the evidence of the trailer it looks increasingly that way, what started off as mediocre trailer like most teen angst American comedies soon descended into colourfully farce and off the chain mayhem. Plus its got a flaming red sword (not that is going to sway me) which is mental and highly cool.

Unlike most I actually can not tolerate Michael Cera (barring of course his first role in Arrested Development) as he seems to have been type cast as the whiney geeky loser akin to a weasly weasel. So when this trailer started it did not bode well for my expectations, then suddenly he gets the crap beaten out of him and an almost sadistic pleasure took hold of me. I wised up a little and realised this is finally the departure Cera needed, martial arts mixed with interesting comedy moments along with an added dose of crazy anime inspired antics, means this could well appeal to the inner geeky arcade playing kid in me.

Being a massive fan of both Spaced and Wrights collaborations with Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead is a piece of comedy fried gold) I was excited to learn of Wrights new project having never heard or read Scott Pilgrim (I have subsequently sought it out and found it a thoroughly humorous read) and considering his adaptation of Antman has more less died on its arse, it is good to see him sink his teeth into something as admittedly off the wall as Scott Pilgrim. If you have ever seen Spaced the sitcom (and if you have not….what the hell is wrong with you go find it!!) then this is thoroughly within Wrights comfort zone, albeit with more of a budget.

I think what has got me excited more then anything was the visuals (so far the story of defeating 7 evil ex-boyfriends of his current girlfriend has not really hooked me enough, maybe I need to keep reading the comics), if there is one thing Wright is good at its producing interesting visuals which provide a homage to everything that he loves about film. The fast cut teaser gives a brilliant if a little too brief a glimpse into the action set pieces which (as mentioned above by my geek arcade comment) seem to have flown straight out of a Street Fighter 2 arcade machine with added fasted paced fighting which wouldn’t look out of place in a Stephen Chow movie.

There is even the brilliant usage of updated “crash” “smash” and “woosh!” which instantly screams 1960’s Batman for the new generation. It even goes so far as to show Michael Cera kicking evil ex-boyfriend ass which lays waste to shy retiring geek days of “Superbad” and “Nick and Nora”. So after my initial reactions to the teaser I look forward to seeing a proper full length trailer, it also makes me wonder….after Kick-Ass could there be a second coming of comic book films (ones with a small budget but big talent) which stem from the less mainstream comic runs??

Hard to tell but what I can say is this, so far as a teaser (and I have heard that it has disappointed some) this put an instant smile on my face and like most things only time will tell if this is worth the wait, but I have a feeling with Cera finally coming out of his comfort zone (if not fully then at least partially) and Wright being able to deliver a dose of high octane entertainment far from the norm. This could well be a great prospect and if not, at the very least a nutso take on the teen angst film.

Discussion

About the less traditional comics thing, we’ve got The Losers and Jonah Hex coming as well, so I think you’re probably right. And Walking Dead, Y: The Last Man, Preacher and Powers could all be hitting telly in the next few years…
Oh, and Michael Vaughn wants to adapt The Sandman for HBO.